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The Alive wrote
Can Columbus become a Midwestern fashion capital?
Thursday, October 2, 2008
By Brittany Kress
Take a look at the street corners, the sidewalks, the grocery stores. It’s a sea of people in sweatshirts and sneakers, and that casual, Midwest lifestyle is stifling Columbus designers’ best intentions.
Well, so are the makeshift studios they’re working from in bedrooms and living rooms across the city.
But it’s not just quality craftsmanship, training and education, sweatshop-style long nights and promotional efforts that’ll put the city’s designers on the map. Simply put, if Columbus wants to become a fashion capital – and plenty are pushing for it – we’re going to have to start looking more like New York. Or at least shopping a little more local, and with a little more style. Because designers can’t get respect coming from a city of sweatpants.
Alive’s Featured Fashion Designers:
- Columbus Style: Akira Burgess
- Columbus Style: Working from home
- Columbus Style: Brad Osting and Justin Hemm
- Alive & Unedited: Project Runway’s Terri Stevens
- Columbus Style: Shannon Mingus
Have you had a lot of clothes fall apart? I’ve bought things across the spectrum of price and had almost nothing fall apart… “Comfort” is arbitrary and I can’t imagine you have any way of telling the quality of durability of something like a pair of loafers from a zoomed-out runway shot. So what’s your beef?
Yes. I have had clothing fall apart after just a few wearings, so I learned to look out for thin fabrics. Particularly in pants!
And, yes, I have known people who stopped buying clothes from certain places because EVERYTHING they got there just fell apart after a couple of times through the wash. Other people rave about the clothes from this particular outlet, and I notice these are the same people who replace their outfits monthly to stay “current”. Seems like a waste to me.
Having worn out a LOT of shoes, here is what I notice because I have learned to look for things like this:
The loafers in the picture had a very thin sole that was flexing with the walkers foot. The leather uppers were shiny but also wrinkled meaning that the entire shoe was flexing. That not only makes the leather wear faster but it makes it a lot of work to maintain the shine. Trust me, those shoes are ment for someone who is not going to walk very far in them.
Seriously. There is “fashion” that is ment as “art”… and there are clothes that are ment to be WORN daily and look good for years. I simply prefer the later and I wish more designers would embrace the later.
Crystal Wolf is fashion disguised as art.
I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. I want more people in this city to understand that ones appearance and ability to succeed are linked. So I am really trying to hold back here. But again, all we are bitching about is bad fashion and it seems that all you are doing is bitching about no one doing anything. We don’t need a garment district which is I think what you mean by a fashion district. It doesn’t mean there aren’t wonderful, creative people in our city that have a chance at succeeding in the fashion industry; there just are not enough of them to merit the businesses that go along with the idea yet.
I got into the discussion late so the conversation did degress from my point of view but i had to sign up to make a post and it took a few days. Although I had never brought it up before my first post I replied to your post because I thought “a Fashion district” was a good idea and different from the short north so I tried to define as best I could. You ll have to read through the posts to revisit what i said but garmet=fashion is not what I said(only a apart of the whole)
I do apologize for not being more clear that this would be a goal for the furture something to strive for. Not something we should work on tommorrow. But taking steps to get there could and should happen today.
do you know every designer in columbus? If you don’t how can you say there is no need for something.
I also apologize for not being more clear about the organization I was talking about. It would a community of designers, for those designers, ran by those designers. A guild or coalition or something along that line. Most likely a non profit ( a business, however the objective between the two are vastly different.)
I also agree about knee high boots and mid thigh skirts. Basic, simple, functional, and HOT.
Ahh the FMB’s (if you can’t guess what that means PM me because it’s not appropriate for the public) I just got a pair in the mail today in white for my costume this year and was trying them on while reading the thread ~haha~
Maybe we can make a thread for “outfit of the week” or something to post our proud or worse fashion moments on CU. That would be quite entertaining.
Per Vivienne Westwood “fashion is pain” though I might not totally agree with that I think you do have to put a certain amount of commitment on some wardrobe to look great. I know from experience it ain’t the best Idea to wear stillettos to gallery hop but I looked GOOD. What I wear isn’t exactly what I design though. For me who’s going to buy if it’s god awful uncomfortable to wear. That’s one of the things I challenge myself with as a designer is making couture comfortable which is why also why i try to use natural comfortable materials and lot’s of knits (knits stretch for movement).
I also agree about knee high boots and mid thigh skirts. Basic, simple, functional, and HOT.
Ahh the FMB’s (if you can’t guess what that means PM me because it’s not appropriate for the public) I just got a pair in the mail today in white for my costume this year and was trying them on while reading the thread ~haha~
Took me a minute, but I got it.
Don’t you guys think a lot of fashion and style is intention and have intention about how you present yourself? I see some good fashion here in the SN sometimes, but a lot of the time there doesn’t seem to be that much personal intention. Not that – that is a bad thing. Just reflective of where we’re at.
And, yes, I have known people who stopped buying clothes from certain places because EVERYTHING they got there just fell apart after a couple of times through the wash. Other people rave about the clothes from this particular outlet, and I notice these are the same people who replace their outfits monthly to stay “current”. Seems like a waste to me.
Seriously. There is “fashion” that is ment as “art”… and there are clothes that are ment to be WORN daily and look good for years. I simply prefer the later and I wish more designers would embrace the later.
You can be stylish and still wear clothes that are practical and durable. Style doesn’t require you to be a fashion victim and wear every trend of the season, it just asks that give some consideration to aesthetics when you select your outfit for the day.
I can get behind this idea.
You can be stylish and still wear clothes that are practical and durable. Style doesn’t require you to be a fashion victim and wear every trend of the season, it just asks that give some consideration to aesthetics when you select your outfit for the day.
I’m usually the best dressed guy at the construction site. :)
unless it features cleavage.
I’m not going to go visit the Louvre and come back talking about how nice the frames were..
Oh snap.
That includes hipster plastic glasses.
One of these days I will understand the obvious love / hate relationship so many CUers have with “hipsters”.
There is only hate.
I think hipsters are boring, but some of them are nice, and some of them are assholes. Does that clear it up?
Because thomas worthington had such a plethora of indentities I understand a bevy of sub cultures. I love them ALL! The hipsters that I know are super cool… then again I think eveyone is cool.
Because thomas worthington had such a plethora of indentities I understand a bevy of sub cultures. I love them ALL! The hipsters that I know are super cool… then again I think eveyone is cool.
I don’t even know what a “hipster” is…
OK OK So tonight I was volunteering for the Ohio Art League “high” event at the Vault tonight. I got to see a bit of everything Columbus can offer from extremely eccentric to t-shirt/jeans. There were some extremely well dressed people there and it made me happy!
Maybe another thing is that there aren’t enough “high brow” events to give us a reason to get dressed up for.
There was even this extremely cute couple, not evening gown but well dressed, matching in a non-cheesy way. The gentleman was wearing bowtie! It looked great! I saw a couple evening gowns and even one women with opera length white leather gloves.
It was a fun night and mostly a good Fashion watch. :D
It took 32 pages, but finally the answer is here. After some “special” infused vodka the answer is a/an hell yes! :P
Because thomas worthington had such a plethora of indentities I understand a bevy of sub cultures. I love them ALL! The hipsters that I know are super cool… then again I think eveyone is cool.
I don’t even know what a “hipster” is…
Really really tight black jeans! They loook sew right onto the body! … Just think the Blue Danube
Does it surprise you that not everyone is a sucker who will buy anything some bozo somewhere says is “cool”.
This is what happens when the contrarian kid in school grows up to be 8000 years old. Perhaps you should post a photo of an outfit or style that you find aesthetically pleasing so that I can judge you beyond “lol this dude sez bozo and is hung up on ‘cool.’” I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
I like Kenneth Cole, it’s simple, it’s black, and it works for a guy who’s approaching 40 years old.
I like Kenneth Cole, it’s simple, it’s black, and it works for a guy who’s approaching 40 years old.
I love this look! but i think i did something like it a year ago/ black hoodie with a blue pin stripe jaket didn’t look as good though